Folks
Whilst resting after a hard and rather wet days walking in West Wales (thankfully we dodged the snow) thought I would check in on the Amateur Radio Facebook page. Came across this rather interesting article which made me feel somewhat vindicated that I have chosen a better quality coax for what will be my new shack and qth location.
Why even good antennas need good Coax cable Bonito Newsroom
Hoping to be at club next Weds work permitting.
Mark
2E0RKM
We have all heard the expression: ‘The chain is only as strong as its weakest link’. Well that’s why its important to think in terms of the antenna system and not just the antenna. What good is the worlds best antenna if we loose a significant proportion of the power between the antenna and the radio or vice versa.
The antenna system is everything between the radio up to and including the antenna. So, it includes all those patch leads, connectors, SWR meters, ATU’s etc etc which we leave in-line. Everything adds loss and, especially at higher frequency, those losses quickly accumulate.
A personal bug-bare is UHF connectors and especially the poorly made ones so often found at rallies and at places from where I expect better such as Maplin. The ones from CPC, Farnell and RS are much better but still they are UHF connectors. For anything above 20MHz I recommend ‘N’ types or BNC as they are so, so much better – and easier to put onto coax too.
Just as there are poor connectors there is poor cable. I’ve seen RG58 with a shield so loose/open that a significant surface area of the centre insulator is visible. I’ve also seen RG58 with braid so tight that the centre insulator cannot be seen.
Cheap coax and connectors are cheap for a reason. One final tip, if you are buying coax at a rally ALWAYS strip back an inch and inspect the cable. Any good seller won’t object.